In Finland, the preliminary results of a study show that the government's experiment to assign € 560 tax-free to 2 unemployed people, from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2018, has failed. Euronews reports.
During the first year, the pilot project wanted by the Finnish executive did not produce any effects on the level of employment or on the individual income level of the participants, the researchers write in a report.
“The basic income experiment did not lead to a growth in the employment of the participants during the first year,” the government agency responsible for the project said.
The results of the study, however, according to insiders are based only on the first year of the project, any conclusion, therefore, could be risky today.
Those who received a basic income, during the test, worked on average for 0,5 days more than those who did not. During the year, the average number of working days was 49,64 for the former, 49,25 for the latter.
The percentage of those who receive an income from employment and business is about one percentage point higher than the reference group (43,70% and 42,85%). On the other hand, the average salary and business income was lower than 21 euro for subjects with basic income (€ 4.230 and € 4.251).
The two-year test was called a step towards eliminating inequalities in society.
Some billionaires, including Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, have advocated a universal basic income as a possible solution to the problem of widespread unemployment.
"I think we will end up with universal basic income, it will be necessary," Tesla CEO Musk said in an interview with CNBC in November.